Nothing Ever The Same
by Lamby
Summary: Romantic mush puke! for anyone who's ever said its about time I wrote some! Set against a backdrop of the criminal underworld, two best friends have broken all the rules, and now nothing will ever be the same...
1. 01

Pure, romantic mush (puke!) set against a backdrop of the criminal underworld. Two best friends have broken all the rules, and now nothing will ever be the same...

**A/N:** Hello, welcome, make yourself at home... I don't often give in to writing romance, but a little every now and again doesn't do any harm, does it? This ficlet fits in to mine and Corrinth's timeline before my songfic Fugitive Motel and the flashbacks of my R rated story Overload. Also, part of it is a flashback included in my third ever fic Darkest Hearts. That said; you don't need to read any of our other works to understand this one, its fairly self-explanatory. Please be warned about adult themes and implications throughout, and don't forget to review. Thank you, Lamby

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Gambit; do own Blaze

Nothing Ever The Same 01 

It was, she thought as she gradually acknowledged the fact that she was waking, the cruellest morning of her relatively short but vivid life.

She didn't want to wake. She didn't want to acknowledge the carpet-taste of her mouth after the sweet champagne of last night. She had no desire to succumb to the throbbing, pounding headache that even now was beginning at the base of her skull. Soon she would have no choice, the hangover would swell and resonate through her sinuses. The dry bitterness of her mouth would gag her in her pain. Her stomach would heave and heavy vomiting would follow. Even pretending she was still asleep, denying the symptoms she knew too well, was rushing them closer like the headlights of the express train at the other end of the night's dark tunnel.

Yet it wasn't the hangover that eighteen-year-old Laura Williams, aka Blaze, was so afraid of. There was something much worse waiting to maul her shattered, exhausted form in the realms of conscious thought. She was used to waking from wild nights wondering 'What have I done?' But today, this bright, crisp Cape Town morning, that question took on an indescribable urgency. Urgency marred with guilt, horror, and in contradiction of everything, an innocent excitement.

The English girl opened her eyes. Though bloodshot and mascara-smudged, her deep chestnut pupils and naturally long lashes were still reminiscent of a fawn. Blaze peered out over a small, curved nose dusted with light freckles. She pouted with full rosebud lips as the bright light this side of wakefulness made her squint. And then she sighed a bittersweet sigh, melancholy and elegant. She had woken alone.

Blaze hadn't known he could be so cruel, or so kind. Here, in this luxurious hotel room after a day of lucrative criminal escapades, laws of a different kind had not been broken so much as incinerated. Unwritten rules that should never be spoken had exploded in escapades of an entirely different sort.

What had she done...

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The view from the penthouse of the hotel was a spectacular panoramic feast of the city. Glass oozed floor to ceiling in the room, allowing the occupant to gaze uninterrupted all across the horizon just as the sun dipped below it. Champagne in one hand, red hair stubbornly pinned up off her neck, draped in a shimmering almost translucent designer dress and make-up flawless, Blaze smiled to herself contentedly. She could pull off this thief lark by herself. She'd just pulled off the biggest job of the underground's year so far; nothing would stop her now...

A knock at the door interrupted her gloating. Expecting room service she shouted "Its open!" and did not turn from the view as someone entered behind her.

"You come up in d'world, Petite. Word is you made a fortune without Gambit?" Remy le Beau didn't wait for her to invite him; he walked to stand besides her at the window. Blaze didn't know what to say, or even feel. She'd half expected him to track her down sometime, and she was glad to see her old friend. But he'd run off and left her for no good reason, and now he expected to just walk back in here and be offered champagne? She settled to answer his question instead of punching his lights out like she'd sworn to do next time she saw him.

"Maybe. Depends on what 'the word' says I've been up to?"

"Oh, not much specific," Gambit met his friend's eyes and smiled. "'Cept extortion of a well-known designer perfume manufacturer with an animal testing facility of dubious legality. Clever, Amie, clever."

"They'd only pay me off with stock, but at a trade price of thirty dollars U.S. per bottle, twenty bottles per case, and fifty-five crates in a storage lock-up on the other side of town to be emptied tomorrow once the payment from my buyer is cleared, I've made about thirty three thousand dollars U.S. And I don't have to pay for this hotel suite, it's all from my buyer." Blaze couldn't help but grin out over the city; she'd been having a whale of a time.

"An' the folder of blackmail evidence is already flyin' to half a dozen animal welfare types I'd bet." Blaze smiled up at her tall friend, he knew her too well. "Not a bridge I'd have burnt, Amie. You wont be able to do business with these people again."

"What can I say, burning's what I'm good at, Remy. Champagne?"

"Oui, merci. You look good, Chere, that cop of yours a lucky guy." Blaze smiled, Gambit was fishing for gossip he'd probably already guessed anyway.

"I got rid of Lance the week you left with Electra." She gave him the champagne flute and topped up her own. "He was so boring!"

"How long you bin drinking for, Blaze?" Remy asked as she took gulps, not sips from the full glass.

"Long enough for you to have some serious catching up to do, le Beau!" She laughed as she draped herself elegantly on a large red sofa. Remy took a seat across from her, black-and-red eyes smiling.

"Good job I was drinkin' on d'plane then, eh Petite?"

They were well and truly sozzled by the time they hit the Jacuzzi on the balcony. What happened next didn't take much, Blaze in a chestnut brown bikini that accentuated her near-flawless tan, leaning too far over Remy to reach the third champagne bottle. Bodies too close, breath on wet skin, lips on lips. The line that Remy had broken in Sidney months earlier, the line that kept friendship from being anything else suddenly didn't even exist any more. Some part of them knew that this was all because of the alcohol, that they would hate themselves in the morning for being so weak. But right now the morning was still hours away...

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With hesitancy due to emotional giddiness beyond her control, she rose. The glamorous hotel room was trashed, yet Blaze had no desire to tidy anything away. She wandered thorough the room wrapped in a white silk sheet that smelt of him. Her hands reached out unbidden, long elegant fingers stroking the back of the red chaise longue tenderly, remembering...

How many times had she drifted to daydream about a night such as last night? How long had she desired him, silently, never making a move? And how much had she underestimated him in those dreams? Could anyone have thought one boy could profess such charm, such tender skill?

A flush rose on her cheeks as she pulled her straying fingers back to brush a long red curl off her pale forehead. She was no naive schoolgirl, no innocent. And she knew Gambit as well as anyone. Chances were he'd already moved on to his next conquest. All that made Blaze was another name on his list.

How she had missed the note on the pillow when she had first woke, she didn't know. Against the haphazard background to their unforeseen passion, the neatly folded white slip seemed out of place. Blaze fought a sudden surge of emotions more powerful than any hangover as she spotted it. What could it contain? An apology? A goodbye? And yet she was determined it wasn't, it couldn't be, could it?

Mere seconds before she lifted the folded parchment, a mobile phone chirruped angrily. Blaze made a split-second decision and moved for the handset instead. The note wasn't going anywhere, she wasn't chickening out. In her profession a call missed could cost thousands she couldn't afford to lose. It was no surprise that the caller id was withheld, and Blaze answered it anyway. "Hello?"

"Well, if it isn't the thief of the moment!" A cheery voice on the end of the line asked pleasantly. Tumultuous as her thoughts and emotions were, it hardly seemed appropriate to smile in reply, but Blaze did anyway. She knew the caller, a Scot by the name of McKenna. Blaze even liked the man; he had a good sense of humour for a criminal. He boasted his profession as club secretary, but when asked what club his only reply would be 'An exclusive one.'

"Congratulations on your recent success, kid." McKenna continued without giving Blaze a chance to reply. "Got a new one for you though. Come to the Maroon Club at ten tonight, I have a client wants to see you."

Blaze nodded once, dimly aware that the man couldn't see her, and hung up. Work sounded good, would give her something to ponder other than last night. It may even get her out of Cape Town. She'd been here too long.

But what about Gambit, her treacherous heart objected. Swallowing back on it as her heart leapt to her throat, Blaze picked up the note. Her hands were warm and dry, the firepower she forebode herself from using for fear of the death it brought just under her skin. Should she read it? Or destroy it, condemning to the ashes any sweet lies in contained. If any man but Remy le Beau had left her a note on her pillow, she would not have granted them the credit of reading it. Her hands tingled as she crunched the note into a tiny white ball and flung it away across the room.

Why should she treat him any different to anybody else?


	2. 02

**A/N:** Hello, welcome, make yourself at home... I don't often give in to writing romance, but a little every now and again doesn't do any harm, does it? Please be warned about adult themes and implications throughout, and don't forget to review. Thank you, Lamby

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Gambit; do own Blaze

Nothing Ever The Same 02 

Blaze favoured dark, dangerous men. She found great security in men who did not want to get close to anyone. Still occasionally she got it wrong. Adam was a dark, dangerous young mutant with muscles a carthorse would be proud of, a gangland thug and occasional nightclub doorman. She'd been seeing him on and off, taking what she wanted. But he was becoming possessive, and Blaze couldn't handle it.

Her business at the Maroon Club complete for now at least, she'd wanted to turn her attention to having fun. To forgetting last night with the illusion of control she created through more drinking and hours of dancing. Instead she stood with her fists on the hips of her brown leather trousers, pouting up at Adam. The tanned South African put his hands on Blaze's bare upper arms for a moment. Thinking better of it as his skin started to burn, he settled for scowling down at her instead, arms folded. Empty, pasty blue eyes explored her chocolate brown ones for any sign she was lying to him. He wouldn't find one; Blaze lied for a living.

"I rang you five times last night girl. Where were you?"

"Washing my hair." Blaze answered sarcastically, temper rapidly fraying.

"For three hours?" He moaned aggressively.

"I'm here tonight aren't I? Who cares where I was last night?" Blaze countered, voice sweetly dangerous, implying he was walking barefoot over hot coals. Adam didn't take the hint, pursing his lips so that the skin was drawn tight over his prominent cheekbones in a skeletal effect.

"I do Blaze. I wont be made out to be a fool." Too late for that, Blaze thought waspishly. "Who were you with?"

"What's this, the Spanish Inquisition?" A familiar voice interrupted from behind Blaze's shoulder. Her heart stopped and her breath caught roughly in her chest. She longed for the ground to swallow her up, folding her arms defensively and not turning around. Her hands shook even as she wedged them under her arms and dropped her eyes. She'd be damned if Remy saw what effect he was having on her.

"Who the hell are you?" Adam spat in the tall Cajun's direction. Gambit only smiled disarmingly.

"I don't t'ink the lady wants to answer your question, Ami." Remy didn't bother to answer Adam's question either. Neither did he keep the threat from his voice as he spoke. "You got somethin' to learn, you wanna impress a girl like her, non?"

"And let me guess," The South African bit back with venom. "You're the guy to show me how it's done?"

The words were out of Gambit's mouth before he had time to stop them. "She didn't have no complaints last night..."

"You were with..." Adam started, but Blaze had already thrown down tools and stormed off. Her shoe heels clicked on the smooth floor, long red curls bouncing in the strobe lights. Both men watched her for a second, before turning aggressively back to each other.

"I'm gonna rip you to pieces..." Adam snarled, and Gambit could well believe he meant it. Remy didn't let it worry him.

"Easy, Ami. You want your 'friends' to know the girl you bin boastin' about ain't as smitten as you t'ought?" Gambit's words were well chosen, hit the mark as Adam took a quick look around the club. Sure enough, more than one of the man's gang were keeping an eye on the mini-soap opera, and Adam had a reputation to keep up.

"Watch your back, lover boy." The big thug snarled, admitting defeat and stalking off in the opposite direction to the one Blaze had gone in. Gambit breathed a silent sigh of relief. Then he followed Blaze.

She was at the bar ordering a stiff drink. Her eyes were brooding, her pretty face set like thunder. But Gambit didn't think twice about going to stand by her left side.

"Whiskey." Blaze told the barman decisively, "No ice." She didn't acknowledge Gambit as she called out again to the barman just as he held a glass up to a bottle on the wall. "I said whiskey, not tap water. Gimme the twelve year old, not the two."

The barman nodded curtly and moved to the stronger bottle. Gambit fished a large note out of a stolen wallet and amended the order to his own taste.

"Make it two, an' up 'em to doubles, okay? Keep the change." His words lightened the barman's demeanour at least. The same couldn't be said for Blaze, as Gambit slapped the bill on the counter.

"I can pay my own way." She muttered, refusing to meet Gambit's unique eyes even though she could feel them exploring her face, her suggestive outfit, and her body...

"I know." He replied with more tack than he was known for. "You can buy the next round. We still goin' fifty-fifty right?"

"Business partners..." Blaze scoffed, before taking a heavy slurp on her drink. She needed to calm her nerves; he was turning her into an emotional wreck. Still she wouldn't look at him, instead swirling the liquid in the glass, watching the aimless play of light. "So you're after a cut of my profit from the perfume manufacturer? You weren't that good last night Rem... Not sixteen and a half grand good."

She knew she was being catty, pushing off the bar and walking away from him with her drink. What else could she do? She'd purred like a kitten in his arms last night, but today her claws were unsheathed in defence.

A soft hand on her shoulder halted her escape. Gambit didn't flinch at the burning sensation as he gently spun petite Blaze back around to face him. Red-on-black eyes concerned, he tried to convince her to look at him, but still she avoided his eyes.

"You find the note?" He asked delicately.

"Didn't read it." Blaze answered automatically, shaking off his touch despite how much she wanted and needed it. What did he want of her?

"Why not?"

"Because its lame..." She began, before sighing and shaking her head. She was lying and they both knew it. Swallowing nervously, she brushed a curl back behind her bejewelled ear. Then she met his eyes, awed by the emotion she saw there.

"Because," Blaze hesitantly tried to explain, "If it had been anything good, wouldn't you have stayed to tell me yourself... It had to be a goodbye, or an apology, and I couldn't take either."

Tears welled up uncalled for, and Blaze broke away from her friend. Downing the drink and ditching the glass, the redhead made for the door. It had barely swung shut behind her; she'd barely gathered a lungful of cooler, clear air before it opened again.

"It didn't say goodbye." Gambit told her softly, standing close behind her in his long brown trench coat, but resisting the temptation to touch her. "An' even if it had, goodbye don't mean nothin' at all to us..." He faltered, and she didn't know how to tell him she knew exactly what he meant. He'd been half the world away and mad at her, but it had only been a temporary thing. He'd still found his way back to her. But what did he want of her now? "Blaze?"

This time at the sound of her name she turned and went willingly into Remy's arms, though she still couldn't smile. For a moment they said nothing, losing themselves I the star-illuminated depths of each other's eyes. Slowly it dawned on Blaze she wasn't the only one who wanted this to be...

"I can't make this easy for you," Blaze offered carefully, slowly. If this was real, wasn't her imagination running wild, then this needed to be said. He had to understand, to know why she was demanding so much from him. "Or we'd both be impossible to live with..."

Gambit understood; she could see the comprehension in his face, sombre like the moonlight. A weight left her shoulders as she realised they were in agreement. Not only did they both want this, what ever it was that was developing between them. But they didn't want to lose the friendship, trust and working business relationship they already had. Remy nodded carefully, and smiled a charming grin. He had to earn her.

"Gambit always up for a challenge Petite, you know that."

"Good." Blaze whispered, slipping her hands inside his coat and teasing his lips with hers. His strong hands in the small of her back pressed her body against his. Blaze responded by kissing him more forcefully, heart pounding as he returned the favour. She adeptly extracted herself though when he was still pining for more. "Looks like you're going to get your wish."

Gambit turned to see what she had spotted over his shoulder. Adam was approaching, baseball bat in hand and flanked by two other men. Remy's eyes narrowed as Blaze stepped delicately away from her fellow mutant thief.

"I have to go." She told him tenderly. "I've a plane to catch." Gambit spun back to her at that, she was leaving? After all she'd just said? "If you really want this, if you really want me, find me in Japan."

The sun was just beginning to creep over the horizon as Blaze took a few steps backwards away from him. His hands ran down her arms raising goosebumps. Their fingertips brushed, then Blaze turned and walked away.

Gambit turned his back on her exit to face down the vengeful Adam. His hand strayed automatically to the inside pocket of his trench coat, searching for playing card ammo. Suddenly the Cajun thief frowned, his exploring fingers finding only one thing in his pocket. Pulling it out in the seconds before Adam was on him, shards of early daylight confirmed Remy's suspicions.

A business card. He'd been pick pocketed, had his stash of ammo removed and a business card dropped in for him to find. The address on the card was for a law firm in Tokyo. Gambit put it away again, resorting to using his extendable staff as a weapon instead. As the fight began, he wondered proudly was if he'd trained Blaze too well...

Just round the corner, back pressed to the alleyway wall, Blaze was keeping an eye on the fight just in case. Nervously she moved the pack of cards from down the front of her top to the back pocket of her trousers. He'd win the fight, she was fairly confident of that, faster and cleverer than Adam could ever be. She'd only stopped it being a little too easy, given herself a head start. Besides, she told herself forcefully, a little pre-emptive revenge never went amiss.

After all, sooner or later, Gambit was going to break her heart.

And worse than that, Blaze was looking forward to every second of it.

Her fingers brushed something once crumpled and later carefully flattened as she wedged the cards into her pocket. When she drew out her hand, she brought the note along too. Curiosity finally got the better of her, though her hands were shaking again. She read Gambit's words quickly, pretty face breaking into a genuine smile. Then, dropping the paper to the floor, she left...

#The End#


End file.
